GRAPHOMETER, (graphometre, Fr.) among surveyors, an instrument for taking angles, and generally called a semi-circle. In mathematics it serves to measure heights and elevations, to raise plans, &c.
GRAPPLING. The French call it grapin, herisson, risson, or harpeau; it is a sort of small anchor, with four or five flukes or arms, commonly used to ride a boat.
Grappling-irons, in the art of war, are composed of 4, 5, or 6 branches, bent round and pointed, with a ring at the root, to which is fastened a rope to hold by, when the grapple is thrown at any thing, in order to bring it near, so as to lay hold of it.
Fire Grappling, an instrument which nearly resembles the above, only that it is fitted with strong barbs instead of flukes, and is fixed at the yard arms of a fire-ship to grapple her adversary, and set her on fire. The French call this instrument grapin de brulôt.
GRAS-bois, Fr. in carpentry, a term to signify any piece of wood which is too large to fit the place it was intended to fill, and which must necessarily be diminished. Hence the expression dêmaigrir, to thin.
GRASS, (gramen,) in botany a general name for most of the herbaceous plants used in feeding cattle.
Grass plats, green walks which for the most part are made by laying turfs or green sods.
GRATICULER, Fr. to divide with a pencil on a sheet of paper, any design or drawing into small equal squares, in order to reduce the original sketch or picture, or to enlarge it by the same process. This word is derived from the Italian, graticola, a gridiron.
GRATIFICATION, Fr. In a general acceptation of the term, this word meant, among the French, certain rewards which generals gave to the troops, after a severe engagement, in testimony of their valor and good conduct. These rewards were distributed according to rank. This custom was prevalent in the most ancient times. According to Vegetius, all monies distributed by the Romans, as military gratifications or rewards, were deposited in the ensign or standard-bearer’s hands, to be occasionally given to the soldiers. Sometimes the generals gave directions, that a certain proportion should be sequestered or put apart. By degree, a fund was collected; and the temptations to desert lost their influence in the superior attachment which every soldier felt to his standard, whose bearer was the trustee of his little property, and to whom he was consequently bound by one of the most powerful ties of the human heart—self interest.
By gratification was likewise meant the accumulation of a certain sum, which was deposited for the specific purpose of burying a deceased soldier.